Johann Rosenzopf (born 22 April 1939 in

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n former industrial manager, who meanwhile has retired. He developed the idea of the official

Youth Olympic Games The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) is an international multi-sport event for athletes between 15 and 18 years old, organized by the International Olympic Committee. The games are held every four years in staggered summer and winter events consisten ...

which were introduced in 2007 by the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC). Rosenzopf developed the idea firstly in the year 1998, when he came in contact with the

Austrian Olympic Committee The Austrian Olympic Committee (ÖOC) (german: link=no, Österreichisches Olympisches Comité) is the non-profit organization representing Austrian athletes in the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The ÖOC also represents the selection of A ...

(ÖOC) and the IOC, presenting them his idea of Youth Olympic Games. Though he promoted his idea during the following years, the IOC at first was not in favour of building up additional international multisports events. They told Rosenzopf they were afraid of overloading the sports calendar for young people and feared the costs being too high. However, in July 2007 the IOC declared the introduction of the Olympic Games for young people. Finally, in November 2010 the IOC conceded Rosenzopf being the initiator of the idea of the Youth Olympic Games:

Jacques Rogge Jacques Jean Marie Rogge, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator and physician who served as the eighth President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 2013, Rogge beca ...

, President of the IOC, declared in an official statement that Rosenzopf "made a major contribution and provided significant impetus to the global vision of creating Youth Olympic Games".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenzopf, Johann 1939 births Living people Austrian businesspeople Sports inventors and innovators People from Klagenfurt